Steve Holmes, CEO of Azzurri, which operates the viral fried chicken brand in the UK, revealed the occurrence at last week’s Restaurant Conference, organised by Restaurant’s sister title MCA.
“I’ve never seen crowds like it,” Holmes said. “I remember thinking with my CEO hat on that this is horrendous, it can’t possibly be a good thing to have our restaurants closed.
“However, there was also a part of me thinking: ‘This is quite cool. We’ve got so much demand that we can’t trade’.”
Dave’s Hot Chicken, which hails from the US and specialises in Nashville-style hot chicken, made its debut UK on London’s Shaftesbury Avenue in December last year under a franchise partnership with Azzurri.
The brand has subsequently launched regional sites in Birmingham, Manchester and Stevenage, alongside a second London restaurant within Westfield London.
All sites are performing ahead of expectations, drawing huge queues for weeks on end, according to Holmes, who cited the brand’s popularity on social media as a factor in its success.
“I’ve never experienced anything like this in my 30 years of working in restaurants. It has a huge social media reach with four million followers on TikTok and two million on Instagram, despite it only having 350 restaurants globally.
“That social media success transcends borders, so we were able to tap into that when we brought the brand to the UK.”
Further expansion is planned with Dave’s Hot Chicken set to reach seven sites across the UK by the end of the year. From January 2026, the plan is to open a new site every three or four weeks.
“We’re going super fast. When you look at the fried chicken coverage in the US compared to the UK we’re hugely under-penetrated.”